National Strategy for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation

   Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and                   Forestry Department
          Environmental Protection



 ZAMBIA NATIONAL STRATEGY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS FROM DEFORESTATION AND FOREST
                            DEGRADATION (REDD+)




January 2015                                  Patrick W. Matakala, Misael Kokwe and Jochen Statz
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


REDD+ is a global mechanism established under the UNFCCC to reduce emissions from tropical
deforestation and degradation in developing countries. The REDD+ mechanism has grown to include five
activities: reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation,
conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest
carbon stocks. Forest cover in Zambia comprises around 45 million hectares, or over 60% of the total land
area1; the Government of Zambia is aware of the prevailing high deforestation rate in the country, which
is estimated between 250,000 – 300,000 hectares per annum. This places Zambia among the top 10
countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. In pursuit of its long-term development vision
(Vision 2030) which emphasizes poverty reduction and development based on “sustainable environment
and natural resource management principles”, the Government of Zambia decided in 2009 to participate
in REDD as an opportunity to directly address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation.

The proximate drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Zambia are specific to its forestry,
agriculture, energy, mining, and land use (infrastructure development) sectors. They have been identified
as follows:


 Sector           Proximate causes of deforestation and forest degradation
 Forestry           Uncontrolled harvesting and encroachment of the protected areas
                    Overexploitation and unsustainable harvesting methods of forest
                     concession areas
                    Overexploitation and unsustainable use of forests in open areas
                    Uncontrolled forest fires
 Agriculture        Extensive and unsustainable crop production practices
                    Poor livestock management practices
                    Agro-processing reliance on wood fuel
                    Lack of incentives for agricultural intensification
                    Use of fire for land preparation
 Energy             Felling of trees for charcoal production
                    Use of charcoal and firewood as the main source of energy
 Mining             Felling of trees to create space for mining site and settlements for labour
                    Harvesting of timber for mining infrastructure
                    Clearing of forests and pollution of the environment from mine effluents
                     detrimental to biodiversity integrity
 Land use           Unplanned land use that has no regard for forest integrity and